Text linguistics - outline

Text linguistics is a branch of linguistics whose main study is the text a communication means. The application of text linguistics has evolved from relying on grammar alone to understand the meaning in textual media to a point in which text is viewed in much broader terms that go beyond a mere extension of traditional grammar towards an entire text. Text linguistics takes into account the form of a text, but also its setting, or how it is situated in an interactional, communicative context. Both the author and the adressee are responsible for the understood meaning conveyed in the text. This means that the intended message in said text becomes subject to the way that the reader perceives it. In general it is an application of discourse analysis at the much broader level of text, rather than just a sentence or word.

Main aspects:

Intentionality - concerns the text producer's attitude and intentions as the text producer uses cohesion and coherence to attain a goal specified in a plan. Without cohesion and coherence, intended goals may not be achieved due to a breakdown of communication. However, depending on the conditions and situations in which the text is used, the goal may still be attained even when cohesion and coherence are not upheld.

Acceptability - concerns the text receiver's attitude that the text should constitute useful or relevant details or information such that it is worth accepting. Text type, the desirability of goals and the political and sociocultural setting, as well as cohesion and coherence are important in influencing the acceptability of a text. In short, that's the way how we react and interact with what we read

Informativity -  concerns the extent to which the contents of a text are already known or expected as compared to unknown or unexpected. No matter how expected or predictable content may be, a text will always be informative at least to a certain degree due to unforeseen variability. The processing of highly informative text demands greater cognitive ability but at the same time is more interesting. The level of informativity should not exceed a point such that the text becomes too complicated and communication is endangered. Conversely, the level of informativity should also not be so low that it results in boredom and the rejection of the text.

Intertextuality - concerns the factors which make the utilization of one text dependent upon knowledge of one or more previously encountered text. If a text receiver does not have prior knowledge of a relevant text, communication may break down because the understanding of the current text is obscured. Texts such as parodies, rebuttals, forums and classes in school, the text producer has to refer to prior texts while the text receivers have to have knowledge of the prior texts for communication to be efficient or even occur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_linguistics#Acceptability